There was a point in the first half hour of last night’s two-hour show where I realised my face was hurting. It was then I realised that I’d been grinning non-stop since Brian May started thrashing out the opening chords of “One Vision”.

I’m going to be honest here. For as long as I’ve been a music fan I’ve always been a huge advocate of the album, and along with it, the concept of listening to an entire album from start to finish. I was thinking about writing this post earlier today and it struck me how much my listening habits have changed in 2014. Last year I blogged about how ditching CDs, then iTunes, (in favour of Spotify) had allowed me to listen to more music than any other time of my life. But it’s only now I’ve realised that, whilst true, with this freedom I’ve become impatient with the idea of playing a whole album from start to finish. Deep down, I hope the Guardian’s recent post on the death of the album isn’t a forecast of things to come… but I’m certainly not helping matters with my countless Spotify playlists.

Having said all that, there have been a handful of 2014’s albums that I’ve played straight through again and again – here they are:

What an incredible summer we’ve had! And what better way to mark the end of August than by a night spent in one of York’s finest hotels drinking champagne, after a successful day at the races? If it’s not so successful – well, you might as well drown your sorrows and cheer yourself up with a bit of live music.

I’ll be performing live in the York Marriott bar this week, Wednesday until Saturday, from 7pm-late each evening.

An unforgettable atmosphere and unlimited requests are guaranteed – hope to see you there!

Life is about grabbing opportunities and that is what a group of local wedding specialist will be doing on Valentine’s Day when they open Blake Wedding Boutique!

The twenty-five members of The Wedding Industry Network will be opening a pop-up shop in the former Blake Gallery on Blake Street, York on the 14th February. The shop will showcase all the services that members of the network offer and visitors will be able to see examples of the 25 different businesses. And will be open daily until the 4th March.

2013 has been a milestone year for me. Having sold all my CDs in 2012 and moved to iTunes-only, this year I ditched iTunes in favour of the all-powerful Spotify. As a result, I’ve listened to more music than any other year, and discovered some incredible albums along the way.

Hi folks! I’ve been reminiscing a lot lately…although I was born in the 80s, the vast majority of my music collection is firmly rooted in the 90s! A decade where admittedly we heard some terrible music (Vengaboys, Aqua and Limp Bizkit spring to mind), but where there are some true classics.

And I’ve been busy learning some of them.

Newly added to my repertoire this month are:

Kiss Me – Sixpence None The Richer

Two Princes – Spin Doctors

With Or Without You – U2

Scar Tissue – Red Hot Chili Peppers

You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates

Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac

Chelsea Dagger – The Fratellis

Let Her Go – Passenger

OK, OK, I know some of these aren’t technically from the 90s, but they’re still good fun to play! Keep your eyes peeled for some new live pics this weekend.